


to give up control

by seiden_spinner



Series: twt request ficlets [7]
Category: Hades (Video Game 2018)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Developing Relationship, First Kiss, Implied Sexual Content, M/M, Past Ares/Thanatos, Prompt Fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-21
Updated: 2020-10-21
Packaged: 2021-03-08 18:27:16
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,254
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27141062
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/seiden_spinner/pseuds/seiden_spinner
Summary: kiss prompt: thanzag + "a kiss to give up control"Or, that one bedroom scene, reimagined.
Relationships: Thanatos/Zagreus (Hades Video Game)
Series: twt request ficlets [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1708426
Comments: 9
Kudos: 263





	to give up control

Being the death incarnate wasn’t an easy task, the perks of it very few and the disadvantages plentiful.

One of the latter was him leading a solitary life because, even though they never talked about it, he was aware that Mother Nyx had her concerns on that matter. And while it frustrated him to worry her so, it wasn’t like he would—or could, for that matter—change anything. His job was a demanding partner in itself; the one that left little room for side affections.

What it did allow for, though...

Once, bound to the surface and a dragged-out war, he was exhausted enough to make a decision of sharing the bed of a certain bloodthirsty god. An ill-advised decision, as it turned out, for it left him with nothing but bite marks all over his skin and the tang of blood not his own that even Styx seemed unable to wash away. Surely, he’d known better than to expect careful treatment, and yet such an aftermath felt worse than he had imagined while unclasping his armor under Lord Ares’ scorching gaze.

Eyes like blood, eyes like fire, eyes like pain. What was it, lurking in their depths, that had him hooked and pulled him in? What was it that he was searching for down there? If only he knew.

He thought it would be a one-time thing, a tryst with no meaning and no consequences; something the Olympian lot were quite well-known for. But when Lord Ares and he met again on yet another battlefield, it felt as though they both knew where and how that day would end, as well as many days after it.

Later, crimson waters would caress the bruises on his body as though asking what was in it for him, and he would have no answer to provide.

When that infatuation or whatever it was finally passed, he came to the conclusion that he was better off on his own.

He liked himself better when he was in control, and with no one to muddle his mind he was just that. Level-headed, efficient, never late. A model servant of the House. That was what he was supposed to be, right? Right.

...to think just how gloriously that perfect image came to pieces when Zag set his mismatched eyes on the surface.

At first, there were no signs of upcoming ruin; _his_ ruin, that is. At that time, it seemed like it was Zagreus who was ruining everything around him, himself first and foremost.

It made Thanatos furious, what he thought he saw unfold before him. Made him deal harsh words and accusations like never in his entire existence. Made him desperately hope that in doing so he would be able to chase it all away.

And Zagreus responded in kind, adding fuel to flame and stoking the fires high. The heat of their arguments was almost as unbearable as that of Asphodel, and it felt like it wouldn’t take long for the remains of the bond they had shared while growing up to burn to ashes. (It would be a lie if he said a part of him wasn’t secretly looking forward to it.)

Turned out, he was wrong in his assumptions.

He missed the point when his words started losing bite and Zag saw the opening and went for it. There were gifts and thoughtful speeches Zag would shower him with for whatever reason. And for all that he scoffed and grumbled in return, there was no fury in him to back it up anymore. (It didn’t make him happy the tiniest bit.)

The more he struggled, the more entangled in all that mess he became, and it took him quite a while to realize what it reminded him of. He’d seen it on the surface before—a fly caught into a spider’s web.

For the first time in many years, he felt scared. Panicked, even, because he was much, much more than some unlucky insect, and yet he _was_ caught and had no means to escape. What was even worse, he had no desire to escape, and that made him throw his defenses up again—a hopeless attempt at regaining his composure, his deathly calm. (His sanity.)

It took him even longer to realize yet another thing, an even scarier one. There had never been any spider’s web—only the strings stretched taut between his heart and Zag’s own. He could bet that his friend—or whatever it was that they were—wasn’t even aware of it, but Zagreus was already playing him like his lyre, giving birth to melodies he never thought were possible.

He dared not name the thing that made him shift across the whole world for a mere glimpse of Zagreus slaying Lord Hades’ forces, for a match that, in truth, served no purpose, for an urgent, breathless _'Thanks!'_ falling from Zag’s lips.

He dared not let himself dwell too long on other things he’d like to hear those lips say.

He dared not because it would mean the end of him.

Sometimes, he would wonder how all of that looked in the eyes of Three Fates. Were they mocking him for his cowardness? Pitying him? Giving no thought for him? For all he knew, it could be anything. (Not that he really wanted to know the answer.)

And maybe _that_ was exactly what made the threads shift, in the end. Made them form such a pattern, where he would find himself in Zag’s chambers and then in Zag’s arms and then in Zag’s bed, short of breath and so, _so_ helpless.

He brought it upon himself and had no regrets, but what was he to do with all this? Was there even a right thing to do?

He nearly shifted out of the bed, half-undressed as he was, when Zagreus, that impossible god of a man, gently bumped their foreheads together and said, his voice all but a cracking whisper:

“...Than? If this doesn’t feel right, I need to know, like, right about now. Just say something—anything, really. Please?”

He blinked, speechless, as the third and final realization hit him.

There didn’t need to be any end of him, not now nor ever.

Not if they met each other halfway.

“Than?”

He didn’t trust himself with words because, he suspected, no words could express the magnitude of his realization in full. But that was okay—no one said he couldn’t answer with deeds and hope for the best, after all.

The quiet, surprised noise that Zag made when their lips met went straight to his heart. Being his first kiss ever, it was light as a touch of butterfly wings, and yet after so many years of turning the blind eye on what had long since been there it felt nothing short of a liberation.

“Will that do?” he said softly against Zag’s lips, and he didn’t fail to register how the other’s breath hitched minutely at that.

“Oh, it most certainly will,” Zagreus replied, and was it just him or did he really hear the notes of awe in his voice? “But I don't mind if you, uh, elaborate a little.”

“Hm.”

He did _elaborate_ after that, and later he would writhe and arch as Zagreus responded in kind with all the fire he had in him—except this time the heat was gentle instead of scorching, and he wanted nothing more than to burn like this until the end of time.

And it wasn’t scary at all.


End file.
